Medina insists zero VAT on some products won’t solve unaffordable prices

The Finance Minister said on Tuesday that the abolition of VAT on some products does not solve the problem of high prices, for example, for food, and that the Government is monitoring all possible scenarios of action.

When asked by journalists about the possibility of the Portuguese government abolishing VAT on products considered essential, as happened in Spain, Fernando Medina rejected this idea: in the countries that have applied it.

According to the Minister of Finance of Portugal, countering the rise in prices is possible only if the government “increases the incomes of the most vulnerable families and focuses on them.”

“It is the families who ultimately decide what is best and what choices they can make best,” he added at the end of the meeting of European Union (EU) finance ministers in Brussels, Belgium.

In this sense, the Socialist leader listed such measures as a “very significant” increase in the minimum wage this year (it is set at 760 euros) and an increase in the lowest social benefits.

“The European recommendations also include a review of the price reduction support mechanisms that have been put in place by various countries in various areas, making them more selective towards the most vulnerable and vulnerable segments of the population, and this is what we will also do,” he added. , assuming that the socialist executive keeps an eye on what is being done in other EU member states and looks for the “most effective” solutions.

In Spain, one of the countries that has adopted a “zero VAT” policy on some products, the measure has driven up production costs, wiped out the benefits it could have brought, and exacerbated a situation already worsened by worsening inflation in recent months. . . .